Diary of a Diehard

On March 30, 2006 Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig authorized an investigation into the alleged usage of steroids by major league players. The investigation was led by former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell. In 2006 baseball was reeling from the allegations that steroids and other performance enhancing drugs were tainting the game and ruining its integrity. These charges came to the forefront of society after two reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper penned the book Game of Shadows that described the ever expanding use of performance enhancing drugs and focused especially on Barry Bonds who was at the time chasing Hank Aaron’s home run record. George Mitchell’s investigation would last 21 months and include requests by the Mitchell commission to interview owners, players, coaches, and other baseball personnel. Throughout the investigation the committee met with stonewalling tactics by many parties with the majority of players declining to cooperate. Finally after a long and drawn out process of gathering information Mitchell was to make his findings public.

Continue reading ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ »

Since Saturday I have been hunkered down at my computer wading through the mountains of data that I have accumulated over the past 10 years trying to put together a plan of action. The Arizona Diamondbacks definitely have not made this easy on me. I think I have gotten soft in my old age (old age being a relative term. I still think of myself as young but according to my kids I am ancient). I am used to the easy life where I get a note in the mail from the Diamondbacks then they have an open house at the ballpark where I can go and spend the day sitting in the various seats at Chase Field and take pictures of the sight lines to try and imagine whether a particular seat will work for me for the upcoming season. With this year’s abbreviated schedule I did not have that luxury. It was as though the Diamondbacks just assumed I knew where I wanted to sit next season. Oh what a very silly assumption.

Continue reading ‘Relocation Worries’ »

There are times I am such an idiot. Now before anyone jumps on that first sentence let me assure you that Trina has already begun marking my idiotic days on the calendar and so far she has more days marked than an entire baseball season and she is only up to June. Trina and I have this understanding that from mid-February through October I am pretty much worthless and unavailable due to baseball season (Trina continues to argue that I am pretty much worthless all the time but from November through February I am at least available). Whenever something needs to be done around the house during that time she just notes it in her notebook and once baseball season is over she gets out the book and I work on stuff until baseball season starts which by the way is only 77 days, 1 hour, and 18 minutes until the first Spring Training game. Some of the stuff on the list isn’t bad and not real time sensitive although the kids are starting to complain that they have not had running water in their bathroom since the Houston Astros series in mid-May of last season. Somewhere in the garage are my tools so I began cleaning things out to get to them. One thing led to another and soon I had the garage completely tore apart to the point that not even a bicycle would fit inside. After what seemed like every waking hour for the past month I was finally able to get the garage back in order and find my toolbox.

Continue reading ‘I Should Have Had My Head Examined’ »

I thought I had overcome Trina’s need for additional Christmas shopping yesterday but she see seemed undeterred. In fact she was fairly insistent that not only did we need to get some non-Diamondbacks related gifts but we also needed to get some Christmas decorations put up. There are so many things wrong with what she said that I have no idea where to even start. First I thought Christmas was supposed to be a holiday filled with love and joy. How is that possible if we give non-Diamondbacks related gifts? I can guarantee that if I get up on Christmas morning and there is not at least one item with an Arizona Diamondbacks logo on it then I’ll quit believing that there is a Santa Claus. And I don’t mean that guy at the mall either. I’ve already tangled with that clown. There is no way he is the real Santa, his suit was not even Sedona Red. It was more Cincinnati Red than Sedona Red and we all know that Santa prefers his boys in Sedona Red. It was Trina’s second comment that really piqued my interest though. Did she say she wanted me involved in decorating for Christmas?

Continue reading ‘Tree-ly Outrageous’ »

“Dear, we really need to talk about Christmas” the words were accompanied by a less than gentle tap on the head. I looked up from my Seat Relocation Form to find a somewhat irritated looking Trina standing above me.

“What did you hit me for?” I asked.

“I’ve been standing here for 5 minutes repeating myself over and over” was her reply. I had to wonder whether General Bernard L. Montgomery or General Dwight D. Eisenhower had to deal with similar intrusions by their wives when they were planning the Battle of Normandy? I can just imagine Mamie Eisenhower prodding her husband to stop all these silly battle planning sessions to go to the mall with her and watch her try on clothes from Victoria’s Secret. I instantly tried to erase that mental image as no one wants to imagine Mamie Eisenhower in an Infinity Edge push-up bra.

Continue reading ‘Christmas Lists’ »

One of my earliest Christmas memories was sitting on the couch with my parents and little brother watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on television. I thought that was one of the coolest shows I had ever seen. I was completely entrenched in the story of a young reindeer who had been ostracized from the reindeer Olympics for what can only be assumed to be a failed performance-enhancing drug test. How else do you explain the sudden appearance of a light-up nose and the ability to leap long distances after getting a kiss from the somewhat homely looking Clarice? I was especially taken aback when Rudolph and his friends Hermey the dental obsessed elf and Yukon Cornelius who I believe was based upon the character of super agent Scott Boras and set out to flee from Abominable Snow Man and ended up on the Island of Misfit Toys. Many a day have I felt like a Charlie-in-the-box none more so than today.

Continue reading ‘The Envelope’ »

Each year on the last day of the Winter Meetings baseball holds it Rule 5 Draft. I’ve tried to explain what exactly the Rule 5 Draft is in previous posts but no matter how much I try to simplify the process it still comes out as convoluted. Today marks the 2007 rendition of the draft.

Coming into these meetings I will be the first to admit that I was a tad bit nervous for the Diamondbacks. When you have a young group of players like the Diamondbacks have on their roster it is hard for other players to break in and hence the talent pool gets a little clogged up at the minor league level.

This leads to many more opportunities for players to be left off the 40-man roster and exposed to the Rule 5 Draft where other teams can take advantage. This was the case two years ago when the Diamondbacks gambled with Dan Uggla only to see him selected by the Florida Marlins and turn in an all-star caliber season in 2006. None of us want to see that happen again.

Continue reading ‘Rule 5 Results’ »

It’s the first Thursday in December and that can mean only one thing: it’s time for the monthly on-line chat with Arizona Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall. Since taking office last year Derrick Hall has made himself available nearly every month via an online chat on the Diamondbacks web site. He takes 30 minutes of his day each month and allows Diamondbacks fans to ask him questions about the team and the organization. I always love attending these things. On the one hand it gives me an opportunity to pester the Diamondbacks with questions without feeling overly guilty. On the other hand it gives me a chance to hear what other fans are thinking or what they may be interested in. That in itself can be quite eye-opening and at times comical.

Continue reading ‘Chatting with the Prez’ »

In the days leading up to this year’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, all we heard about was how this off season would be the perfect storm for an unprecedented number of trades to occur. With a relatively light free agent class of players available teams would be forced to the trade table to make any deals they needed to make their ballclub better. Local post offices would be overrun with players standing in line to get change of address forms. Rumors were flying more wildly than a Mitch Williams fastball. The Arizona Diamondbacks figured prominently in many of these rumors in their quest to find another starting pitcher. The problem was that baseball’s General Managers all appear to be proponents of gun control laws as none of them have been willing to pull the trigger on any deal.

Continue reading ‘Did You Hear the Latest?’ »